My husband was diagnoised with tonsil/tongue/soft palate cancer, stage 3. He went through a tumor board and surgery was suggested as the first course of action and RT six weeks afterwards. He had the surgery Feb. 11, 2003. It was a major surgery involving tonsil, some of the base of his tongue, half of his soft palate removed. A flap was made from the skin of his forearm and his right jaw bone was reconstructed with bone from his hip. The surgery went well and RT was followed after six weeks. Other than having a NG tube following surgery for three weeks, that was removed and he did not have a peg tube. He did lose a lot of weight but has managed to swallow all the nutrition he needed. He is now doing okay with some soft/blended foods but relies on Ensure and other protein drinks to maintain his weight. As the caretaker I had wished many times that he had a peg tube so I did not worry as much but he was determined and so far so good....We still have a long ways to go and hoping his first PET Scan will be free of cancer. We are not sure if surgery was the way to go but we put our faith in our doctors. We had to act so quickly with treatment we did not have a lot of time to investigate. Now through this forum I see different opinions and treatments. If you have the time, do seek all the alternatives and make your choice. Good luck to you and keep the faith.
Becky